Hartford is the tortilla chip capital of New England. Yes, it’s true. Severance Foods, founded by three amigos (if you will) who had worked together at food and beverage-industry giant Heublein in the mid-1980s, invested in a tortilla-making machine and began supplying chips to area restaurants. The business took off. After installing a retail packaging machine, “the floodgates opened.” Eighty-five employees later, the company continues to expand.

In Norwalk, Dina Houser has also developed a recipe for success. Hand-made granola. Ola! Granola’s four flavors are crafted from creative and crave-worthy ingredients like cranberries, almonds, maple-syrup, cinnamon, bananas, chocolate and vanilla. All ingredients are organic, kosher, and GMO-free. Houser has grown her business with the help of her three sons. Baking 3,000 to 5,000 pounds a week, Ola! Granola has moved from local farmers’ markets to major grocery store chains throughout the Northeast.

When Dan Adams, Executive Chairman and Global Head of Business Development at Protein Sciences in Meriden, took over 20 years ago, the company was tanking. Today, it’s a different story. The small company of just 40 employees has accomplished what no other biotech company in the world has been able to do. Protein Sciences has created a new flu vaccine called Flublok. What’s unique is that it takes just a few weeks to mass produce (unlike traditional vaccines)— enabling rapid response to pandemic outbreaks that can kill thousands. Now the company has tripled in size and is working on other innovative and potentially game-changing technologies involving more kinds of vaccines and gene therapy.

Against the backdrop of such timely issues as outsourcing and a global economy, the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network (CPBN) announces the launch of its Made in Connecticut initiative. This yearlong, multi-platform initiative is designed to explore modern manufacturing and the role of innovation on companies that are located – and thriving – right here in Connecticut.

This campaign, which kicks off in April, 2014, will feature special programming airing on WNPR/Connecticut Public Radio, CPBN’s NPR affiliate, and CPTV, CPBN’s PBS affiliate. This programming will explore such topics as the value that manufacturing provides to the state’s economy; how the manufacturing sector is contributing to the creation of jobs in Connecticut; how advances in technology have changed the nature of manufacturing and the skills needed to work successfully in the manufacturing environment; and how science, technology and innovation are transforming manufacturing endeavors around the world, the nation and the state.

“Manufacturing has always been an important part of Connecticut’s culture and economy, and it’s a subject we’re thrilled to explore with the Made in Connecticut initiative,” said Jerry Franklin, President and CEO of CPBN. “In recent years, technological advances, as well as human innovation and creativity, have put Connecticut on the forefront of a manufacturing revolution. This revolution is not only exciting, it’s important to the local economy, as it’s helping to create jobs in the Nutmeg State.”

The Made in Connecticut initiative is made possible by CPBN’s Founding Sponsor, KBE Building Corporation.